Sampdoria vs Cagliari
Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
Wednesday, 15-07-2020 @8:30pm
Sampdoria can see mid-table comfort after three wins in four games, but Cagliari have made themselves difficult to beat under Walter Zenga.
It’s a return to his old haunts for former Samp goalkeeper and coach Zenga, who had 14 games on the Marassi bench from June-November 2015.
Since taking over Cagliari from Rolando Maran during the lockdown, he has helped stem the leakage of goals, but they’ve rather dried up in the attacking end too, failing to find the net for three rounds in a row.
Radja Nainggolan limped off during the 0-0 with Lecce and is extremely unlikely to feature in this midweek game, along with Christian Oliva, Luca Pellegrini and long-term absentee Leonardo Pavoletti.
Samp have turned a corner with three wins in their last four and climbed up to 14th place, now as to Cagliari in 11th as they are the relegation zone.
Fabio Quagliarella made a triumphant return to the starting XI at the weekend, scoring in the 3-1 victory away to Udinese, but Gaston Ramirez joined the injury list.
Cagliari have scored three goals away from home since the restart, all of them from Giovanni Simeone.
Bologna vs Napoli
Stadio Renato Dell’Ara, Bologna
Wednesday, 15-07-2020 @8:30pm
Napoli were pegged back by a late Milan penalty, but that’s nothing compared to Bologna, who threw away a 2-0 lead in stoppages with Parma.
Sinisa Mihajlovic was suspended for that local derby and had to watch on from the stands as his team somehow went from 2-0 up at the 92nd minute to drawing 2-2. It was another disastrous setback after their defeat to Sassuolo and he will have read them the riot act.
Gennaro Gattuso is getting the best out of his Napoli side, as since the restart they’ve won the Coppa Italia, dropping Serie A points only to the mighty Atalanta and on-form Milan.
Squad rotation should continue, bringing in Kostas Manolas, Diego Demme, Matteo Politano, Arkadiusz Milik and maybe even Chucky Lozano.
Bologna have won their last two Serie A meetings with Napoli, but haven’t made it three since 1937.
AC Milan vs Parma
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Wednesday, 15-07-2020 @8:30pm
Milan really are on remarkable form at the moment and even took points from the Stadio San Paolo, but Parma’s late comeback with Bologna showed signs of life.
Stefano Pioli has seemingly found the right formula for the Rossoneri, a two-man midfield with a trio of attacking figures to support Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Alexis Saelemaekers won’t be one of them this week, as he was sent off for two rapid-fire yellow cards in the 2-2 draw with Napoli and is therefore suspended.
Either Lucas Paqueta will therefore keep his spot, or give it up to Giacomo Bonaventura, as Samu Castillejo is still injured.
Parma have long given up on the idea of challenging for a place in Europe after four consecutive defeats and it would’ve been five if not for an astonishing comeback against Bologna.
They were 2-0 down at the 92nd minute, yet clawed it back to 2-2, as Roberto Inglese made his first appearance in months and still got the decisive goal.
Inglese probably won’t be fit to start yet and Andreas Cornelius is still out, so Juraj Kucka could even be a makeshift centre-forward.
This will be Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 100th competitive appearance in a Milan jersey, so far scoring 62 goals and assisting 24.
Lecce vs Fiorentina
Stadio Cumunale Via del Mare, Lecce
Wednesday, 15-07-2020 @10:45pm
Fiorentina snatched a last-gasp equaliser with Verona, but are far from out of the woods, while Lecce slipped back into the bottom three.
The Viola are now without defeat in three rounds, but the performances have been a long way off reassuring. Federico Chiesa was dropped for the 1-1 draw with Hellas Verona, which was only achieved with a 97th-minute Patrick Cutrone goal on Chiesa’s assist, but he should be back in the starting XI.
Lecce ended their losing streak by fighting back to beat Lazio, then had the better of the trip to Cagliari, but hit the woodwork twice from point-blank range in a 0-0 draw.
Filippo Falco went off injured in that game and is expected to miss out here. Khouma Babacar can face his former club and is eager to prove a point.
Only SPAL (three) have scored fewer goals than Fiorentina’s six since the restart.
AS Roma vs Hellas Verona
Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Wednesday, 15-07-2020 @10:45pm
Roma got back on track with two consecutive victories, but have a tougher test as an angry Hellas Verona come to the Stadio Olimpico.
The Giallorossi had lost three on the bounce, but did the bare minimum to squeeze past Parma 2-1, then thumped sorry Brescia 3-0.
Chris Smalling is still out of action, but Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Bryan Cristante return from suspension, with Federico Fazio more likely to take the centre-back role than Cristante. Despite squad rotation, Cengiz Under and Justin Kluivert don’t seem to have much of a place in Paulo Fonseca’s plans.
Even though they’ve had some difficult performances since the restart, Roma are still two points clear in fifth place.
Verona’s European ambitions were never really going to take hold, especially for a club that was only promoted via the play-offs a year ago.
Ivan Juric is still fuming after his side dropped two points with a 97th-minute equaliser against Fiorentina at the weekend, leaving them with only two points in the last three rounds.
Verona have not beaten Roma in Serie A since 1996, managing five draws and 11 defeats.
Sassuolo vs Juventus
MAPEI Stadium, Reggio nell’Emilia
Wednesday, 15-07-2020 @10:45pm
Juventus complete their trio of matches against the form clubs in Italy right now and Sassuolo are on a roll of four consecutive victories.
Maurizio Sarri could not have had a worse run-in to the Scudetto after the restart, but he’s still eight points clear at the top of the table, thanks largely to those behind him tripping up too.
The 4-2 defeat to Milan was damaging and Juve were out-played by Atalanta for long periods, but two penalties for handball still allowed them to snatch a point.
Now this trip to Sassuolo is not to be taken for granted at all, especially with Juan Cuadrado suspended, meaning Danilo moves to the right, with Alex Sandro still not at 100 per cent.
Roberto De Zerbi confirms his status as one of the hottest Italian coaches to watch right now, as his team won four on the bounce after 3-3 draws with Inter and Hellas Verona.
The comeback to beat Lazio on Saturday is the reason Juve have such a large lead at the top of the table. Gregoire Defrel and Pedro Obiang are still out of action, but Sassuolo have shown they can comfortably rotate the squad without problems, even 20-year-old talent Giacomo Raspadori is a smart option to call upon.
Cristiano Ronaldo could become the first player in history to score at least 50 goals in the Premier League, Liga and Serie A, as he’s currently on 49 in the Italian League.
Udinese vs Lazio
Darcia Arena, Udine
Wednesday, 15-07-2020 @10:45pm
Lazio’s run of three straight defeats saw them plummet to third place, just one point ahead of Atalanta in fourth, and relegation-threatened Udinese can take advantage.
It was always known Simone Inzaghi had a thin squad to choose from, but their dire form since the restart was beyond even those expectations.
Lucas Leiva is struggling with a knee problem, Adam Marusic, Joaquin Correa and Senad Lulic injured, while Patric continues his four-match ban for biting a Lecce player’s arm. If Ciro Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic aren’t on form, then Lazio haven’t got enough to force results.
Udinese are six points off the drop zone, but a late Sampdoria comeback ended their run of seven points from three rounds.
The Friulani beat Roma 2-0 and are hoping for another scalp against a Capital club in trouble. Kevin Lasagna is fired up, having scored in each of the last five games, for a total six goals.
Udinese have lost each of their last seven Serie A meetings with Lazio, home and away, during which they scored just two goals.
Serie A upcoming fixtures
Thursday, 16-07-2020
-Torino vs Genoa @8:30pm
-SPAL vs Inter Milan @10:45pm
Monday’s result
-Inter Milan 3-1 Torino
Tuesday’s result
-Atalanta 6-2 Brescia
